European Coefficients Watch feat. Dr Galliani & co dominating the corridors of power

The 4th CL spot is closer than many of you think. We could even retain it as early as next season! Basically, the top 3 European ranked nations in UEFA (club football) will get 7 European spots - 4 in the CL and 3 in the EL. The 4th-6th ranked nations will get 6 spots - 3 in the CL and 3 in the EL.

UEFA calculates the coefficients of each club based on their performances over the last 5 years. Italy's performances 5, 4, 3, 2 years ago were all inferior than Germany and England, meaning that every year forward - they will lose an advantage that they once had over us... that's a very important advantage for Italy.

Italy have received a huge, huge blow by Sampdoria (motherf'ing bitches) by getting eliminated in the preliminary qualifications to the EL by an unknown team. That will weigh heavily on Italy, it was very very important for us to have a good season this year especially as we are so close to both England and Germany.

There is a twist though for this year that might make up for Sampdoria's mishap in Europe.

UEFA this year introduced something new - the top 3 countries in fair play will get a preliminary qualification spot for the EL for their top fair play team. This year Ireland, England and Holland got that and West Ham represented England in the EL. For the first time ever, EIGHT teams from one nation are going to be playing in Europe that could've been a huge advantage to keep Italy at bay from getting back their fourth spot - however West Ham got eliminated.... but they still have 7 teams, so it's like it was last year? not exactly.

Each country's points are all calculated and then averaged out by the number of teams representing that country in Europe for that year. Since a win is 2 points (whether in the CL or EL), for Spanish clubs each team that gets a win will get 2/7 = 0.2857 points for their country. Italy has only 6 teams so each win will be 2/6 = 0.333 points... that's another advantage of Italy.

But, here's where things become more interesting. England thought that they would have an advantage over Italy by have 8 teams to their 6 but that also means that each victory for England will now be 2/8 = 0.25 points. Basically if Italian clubs earn 3 victories, England will need to earn 4 victories to earn the same amount of points.

That being said, Italy now have 6 teams in Europe and England have 7. They still have an advantage. We need to hope that English clubs will continue not to care about the EL just like how Italian clubs did so 5-10 years ago and then we'll snatch that spot from right underneath their noses.

KEY PLAYERS FOR EACH NATION THIS YEAR:

Italy

Lazio - they've already surprised us by beating Leverkusen at home but after losing Biglia in all likeliness it looks like they will be eliminated tomorrow from the CL. I don't think that's a big deal but it actually was expected. They still can do Italy a lot of good if they perform well in the Europa League... we really need the to, but I have never trusted Lazio in Europe before because they never showed anything worthy. I despise that club just as I despise Sampdoria and Udinese for destroying Italy's chances to get that 4th spot back.

Fiorentina/Napoli - both were instrumental in Italy's rise in coefficient points. If these two have a season similar to theirs last year, we could have a good chance of making it back. These two need to be inspired and look at how Sevilla made it to the CL this year - by winning the EL. With the Serie A being more competitive than ever, these teams should focus on the EL.

Roma - have failed season after season in the CL, and I don't expect anything different. The only hope is that they make it to third spot in their group so they can go to the EL where they can earn points against teams of their level. I hate teams that self-destruct in big games. Roma were so close last year to the knock out stages but conceded a very bad goal in the dying seconds of their game versus CSKA Moscow, that's what eliminated them.

England

Spurs/Liverpool/Southampton - will be playing in the EL. We need these guys to lose as many games as possible.

City/Arsenal - hoping that they do not make it far in the CL again. We need them to be in hard groups were they can't get easy victories.

I really hope to see Italy get back on the level it used to be. There's nothing more I truly want when it comes to football.

Don't wanna be a dick right now, but what level are you hoping for Italy to reach ???

If it's the golden era of the late late 80's til the late 90's and even overlapping into the early noughties ... Then my friend you are going to be in for some disappointment.

It's not that Italy cannot rise again... but it's nigh on impossible to recreate those conditions.

Calcio was so jam packed with talent that there were world cup captains playing for mid to lower table teams.

In todays game the talent is spread between 4/5 leagues... back then it was Italy at the top ... followed by La Liga... and the rest lived off the scraps that Calcio would throw down to them like the EPL . Clubs like Chelsea were built on the back of serie A pensioners ... Arsenal's greatest XI will contain 3 players who were all deemed surplus to requirements at their respective clubs Vieira, Bergkamp, Henry. Ravenelli went to Boro and smashed in 30 goals during his first season. I just remembered another name... Rizzitelli from getting relegated with Torino... went and landed himself a spot with Bayern Munich.

How times have changed eh... now we live off the scraps from other leagues

Besides... in the UCL it was only ever Us and Juve who went out and took on the rest of Europe... inter were a fraud, constantly getting dumped. Heck reaching the QF for them was an achievement in of itself.

Just a warning... don't get your hopes up.. as the bar was set too high back in the days.

No on expects Seria A to dominate as it used in the late 80s and 90s, but at least we all expect it to be among the best 3 leagues in the world not trailing behind both EPL and Bundsliga like these days.

And yes Italy has a good chance to catch any of the 2nd or 3rd spot, especially that both Milan & Inter seems like they will start to build competitive teams again so all what is needed is to get 15+ points this year and who knows.